For the Greater Good
by gelowo93
Summary: One shot. Originally an entry for the Quest for the Hallows over on cosforums. Gellert Grindelwald has just stolen the Elder Wand.


This was originally an entry for the Quest for the Hallows competition over on cosforums. You had to pick a character which has had the elder wand in their possession and create either a story or a comic strip around that person. The Elder Wand had to play an important role in the story and it had to be under 800 words.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters. **

The Greater Good

The sun was slowly rising, turning the sky pale pink and illuminating the dusty room through the grime covered windows. Gellert Grindelwald coughed as he opened an old wardrobe, unsettling a layer of dust, and hastily threw an armful of robes into the battered trunk that stood open at the foot of his bed. The sunlight reflected off a small silver object that had been discarded at the bottom of the wardrobe. Gellert stooped down to see what it was.

A photo frame lay on the dirty floor of the wardrobe. It showed two boys, both in their late teens, laughing with their arms around each other. The man on the left had elbow-length auburn hair and a tiny wispy beard. Gellert pushed his golden curls out of his eyes as he looked down at this mans piercing blue eyes. Suddenly, he violently threw the frame back onto the floor and, with a loud _crack_, the glass smashed.

Gellert stood for a minute, looking as if he had forgotten what he had been doing, but a loud knock on the door pulled him from his reverie and he moved to answer it.

A man in his early twenties with cropped brown hair and grey eyes was standing on the other side of the door. He began to walk into the room, but, surprised, he stopped.

"Going somewhere?" He asked, staring round at the half empty room and his eyes landed on the overflowing trunk.

"None of your business," Gellert answered, rushing round the room looking for any possessions that he might have forgotten. "Why are you here, Otto?"

"I just wanted to talk to you, you haven't been the same since- what's that?" Otto had spotted a thin strip of wood lying on a table by the window.

"A wand, stupid," muttered Gellert, as he picked it up and put it in his pocket. Turning round, he saw that Otto had turned pale and drawn his wand. "Put your wand away, the door's still open. Or do you want be discovered by the muggle neighbours?"

Otto kicked the door behind him to a close and kept his wand raised. His eyes were focused on the pocket in which Gellert had dropped his wand.

"You stole it, didn't you? That's where you're going – you're getting out of town as quick as you can, aren't you? Why'd you have to go and steal a wand? You've got a perfectly good one of your own! You're going to bring the Ministry down on us one of these days, just because you can't stick to the law! You're not in school any more - the punishment's going to be a lot worse than being expelled! But no, you don't even - "

Otto was interrupted by Gellert's booming laughter.

"This isn't just any wand. It's the most powerful wand there is – that's why I _had to go and steal it_," Gellert mocked. "Why do you think I'm getting out of here, Otto? I know you can't handle taking risks – I'm saving your neck!" He pulled the wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Otto. "Now get out of my way."

Otto did not move. Gellert had not thought that it was possible for Otto to go any paler, but he had. As they stared at each other, a look of realisation dawned on Otto's face.

"I w-won't let you do it. I know y-y-you, you're going t-to try to take over, a-a-aren't you?" Otto stammered, and a jet of light shot from his wand towards Gellert. Gellert ducked and the spell missed, hitting the stone wall behind him and blasting a part of it off. Gellert roared and, without hesitating, shot a jet of green light towards Otto.

The curse hit Otto in the chest and he fell backwards, shock clearly etched in every line on his face. Gellert stood up, brushed dust off his robes and stared into the face of his oldest friend, now lying dead on the floor. _He deserved it_, Gellert thought viciously, _the interfering little toerag_.

Gellert turned his back on Otto and pointed the elder wand at his trunk. The contents rearranged themselves so that the overflowing robes fit in comfortably and the lid closed with a _snap_. He reached for the handle and dragged it to the door.

With one last look at Otto, lying dead on the floor, and the smashed photo frame, with the photograph of the two laughing boys, Gellert reached for the doorknob and exited into the cold January morning.

_For the Greater Good_, he thought savagely.

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